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Follett, Ken - On Wings of Eagles.txt

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by On Wings of Eagles [lit]

and piling the money up in ten-thousand-dollar stacks: there was sixty-five

  thousand dollars plus about the same again in Iranian rials.

  While he was doing this, a marine walked in. Seeing two disheveled,

  unshaven men kneeling on the floor counting out a small fortune in

  hundred-dollar bills, he did a double take.

  Sculley said to Simons: "Do you think I ought to tell him, Colonel?"

  Simons growled: "Your buddy at the gate knows about this, soldier. "

  The marine saluted and went out.

  it was eleven P.m. when they were called to board their flight to Istanbul.

  Ilwy went through the final security check one by one. Sculley was just

  ahead of Simons. Looking back, he saw that the guard had asked to see

  inside the envelope Simons was carrying.

  The envelope contained all the money from the fuel can.

  Sculley said: "Oh, shit."

  The soldier looked in the envelope and saw the sixty-five thousand dollars

  and four million rials; and all hell broke loose.

  Several soldiers drew their guns, one of them called out, and officers came

  running.

  Sculley saw Taylor, who had fifty thousand dollars in a little black bag,

  pushing his way through the crowd around Simons, saying: "Excuse me ,

  excuse me please, excuse me . "

  Ahead of Sculley, Paul had already been cleared ti~ough the checkpoint.

  Sculley thrust his thirty thousand dollars into Paul's hands, then turned

  and went back through the checkpoint.

  The soldiers were taking Simons away to be interrogated. Sculley followed

  with Mr. Fish, Ilsman, Boulware, and Jim Schwebach. Simons was led into a

  little room. One of the officers turned, saw five people following, and

  said in English: -%rho are you?"

  "We're all together," Sculley said.

  They sat down and Mr. Fish talked to the officers. After a while he said:

  "They want to see the papers that prove you brought this money into the

  country."

  `VVhat papers?"

  ON WINGS OF EAGLES 377

  "You have to declare all the foreign currency you bring in."

  "Hell, nobody asked us!"

  Boulware said: "Mr. Fish, explain to these clowns that we entered Turkey at

  a tiny little border station where the guards probably don't know enough to

  read forms and they didn't ask us to fill in any forms but we're happy to

  do it now."

  Mr. Fish argued some more with the officers. Eventually Simons was allowed

  to leave, with the money; but the soldiers took down his name, passport

  number, and description, and the moment they landed in Istanbul, Simons was

  arrested.

  At th1W A.M. on Saturday, February 17, 1979, Paul and Bill walked into Ross

  Perot's suite at the Istanbul Sheraton.

  It was the greatest moment in Perot's life.

  Emotion welled up inside him as he embraced them both. Here they were,

  alive and well, after all this time, all those weeks of waiting, the

  impossible decisions and the awful risks. He looked at their beaming faces.

  The nightmare was over.

  The rest of the team crowded in after them. Ron Davis was clowning, as

  usual. He had borrowed Perot's cold-weather clothes, and Perot had

  pretended to be anxious to get them back: now Davis stripped off his hat,

  coat, and gloves, and threw them on the floor dramatically, saying: "Here

  you are, Perot, here's your damned stuff!"

  Then Sculley walked in and said: "Simons got arrested at the airport. "

  Perot's jubilation evaporated. "Why?" he exclaimed in dismay.

  "He was carrying a lot of money in a paper envelope and they just happened

  to search him. "

  Perot said angrily: "Dam it, Pat, why was he carrying money?"

  "It was the money from the fuel can. See--

  Perot interrupted: "After all Simons has done, why in the world did you let

  him take a completely unnecessary risk? Now see here. I'm taking off at

  noon, and if Simons isn't out of jail by then, you are going to stay in

  frigging Istanbul until he is!"

  Sculley and Boulware sat down with Mr. Fish. Boulware said: "We need to get

  Colonel Simons out of jail."

  "Well," said Mr. Fish, "it will take around ten days-"

  "Bullshit," said Boulware. "Perot will not buy that. I want him out of jail

  now. "

  "It's five o'clock in the morning!" Mr. Fish protested.

  378 Ken Folleu

  "How much?" said Boulware.

  "I don't know. Too many people know about this, in Ankara as well as

  Istanbul. "

  "How about five thousand dollars?"

  ::For that, they would sell their mothers.

  Fine," said Boulware. I-Let,s get it on.-

  Mr. Fish made a phone call, then said: "My lawyer will meet us at the jail

  near the airport.-

  Boulware and Mr. Fish got into Mr. Fish's battered old car, leaving Sculley

  to pay the hotel bill.

  They drove to the jail and met the lawyer. The lawyer got into Mr. Fish's

  car and said: "I have a judge on the way. I've already talked to the

  police. Where's the money?"

  Boulware said: "The prisoner has it."

  "What do you mean?"

  Boulware said: "You go in there and bring the prisoner out, and he will

  give you the five thousand dollars."

  It was crazy, but the lawyer did it. He went into the jail and came out a

  few minutes later with Simons. They got into the car.

  -we I re n going to pay these clowns," said Simons. "I'll wait it out.

  ey'll just talk themselves to death and let me go in a few days."

  Boulware said: "Bull, please don't fight the program. Give me the

  envelope."

  Simons handed over the envelope. Boulware took out five thousand dollars

  and gave it to the lawyer, saying: "Here's the money. Make it happen. -

  The lawyer made it happen.

  Half an hour later, Boulware, Simons, and Mr. Fish were driven to the

  airport in a police car. A policeman took their passports and walked them

  through passport control and customs. When they came out on the tarmac, the

  police car was there to take them to the Boeing 707 waiting on the runway.

  They bearded the plane. Simons looked around at the velvet curtains, the

  plush upholstery, the TV sets, and the bars, and said: "What the fuck is

  this?"

  The crew were on board, waiting. A stewardess came up to Boulware and said:

  "Would you like a chink?"

  Boulware smiled.

  The phone rang in Perot's hotel suite, and Paul happened to answer it.

  ON WINGS OF EAGLES 379

  A voice said: "Hello?"

  Paul said: "Hello?"

  The voice said: "Who is this?"

  Paul, suspicious, said: "N"o is this?"

  "Hey, Paul?"

  Paul recognized the voice of Merv Stauffer. "Hello, Merv!"

  "Paul, I got somebody here wants to talk to you."

  There was a pause, then a woman's voice said: "Paul?"

  It was Ruthie.

  "Hello, Ruthie!"

  "Oh, Paul!"

  "Hi! What are you doing?"

  "What do you mean, what am I doing?" Ruthie said tearfully. "I'm waiting

  for you!"

  The phone rang. Before Emily got to it, someone picked up the extension in

  the children's room.

  A moment later she heard a little girl scream: "It
's Dad! It's IDW! I I

  She rushed into the room.

  All the children were jumping up and down and fighting over the phone.

  Emily restrained herself for a couple of minutes, then took the phone away

  from them.

  "Bill?"

  "Hello, Emily."

  "Gee you sound good. I didn't expect you to sound ... Oh, Bill, you sound

  so good."

  In Dallas, Merv began to take down a message from Perot in code.

  Take ... the ...

  He was now so familiar with the code that he could transcribe as he went

  along.

  ... code ... and ...

  He was puzzled, because for the last three days Perot had been giving him

  a hard time about the code. Perot did not have the patience to use it, and

  Stauffer had had to insist, saying: "Ross, this is the way Simons wants it.

  - Now that the danger was past, why had Perot suddenly started to use the

  code?

  ... stick ... it ... where ...

  Stauffer guessed what was coming, and burst out laughing.

  380 Ken Folleu

  Ron Davis called room service and ordered bacon and eggs for everyone.

  While they were eating, Dallas called again. It was Stauffer. He asked for

  Perot.

  "Ross, we just got the Dallas Times-Herald."

  Was this to be another joke?

  Stauffer went on: "The headline on the front page says: 'Perot men

  reportedly on way out. Overland exit route from Iran indicated. ' "

  Perot felt his blood start to boil. "I thought we were getting that story

  killed!"

  "Boy, Ross, we tried! The people who own or manage the paperjust don't seem

  to be able to control the editor."

  Tom Luce came on the line, mad as hell. "Ross, those bastards are willing

  to get the rescue team killed and destroy EDS and see you jailed just to be

  the first to print the story, We've explained the consequences to them and

  it just doesn't matter. Boy, when this is over we should sue them, no

  matter how long it takes or how much it costs---

  "Maybe," said Perot. "Be careful about picking a fight with people who buy

  ink by the barrel and paper by the ton. Now, wdit are the chances of this

  news reaching Tehran?"

  "We don't know. There are plenty of Iranians in Texas, and most of them

  will hear about this. It's still very hard to get a phone line to Tehran,

  but we've managed it a couple of times, so they could, too."

  "And if they do .

  "Then, of course, Dadgar finds out that Paul and Bill have slipped through

  his grasp--

  "And he could decide to take alternative hostages," Perot said coldly. He

  was disgusted with the State Department for leaking the story, furious with

  the Dallas Times-Herald for printing it, and maddened that there was

  nothing he could do about it. "And the Clean Team is still in Tehran," he

  said.

  The nightmare was not over yet.

  FoURTEEN

  At midday on Friday, February 16, Lou Goelz called Joe PocW and told him to

  bring the EDS people to the U.S. Embassy that afternoon at five o'clock.

  Ticketing and baggage check-in would be done at the Embassy overnight, and

  they could leave on a Pan Am evacuation flight on Saturday morning.

  John Howell was nervous. He knew, from Abolhasan, that Dadgar was still

  active. He did not know what had happened to the Dirty Team. If Dadgar were

  to find out that Paul and Bill had gone, or if he were simply to give up on

  them and take a couple more hostages, the Clean Team would be arrested. And

  where better to make the arrests than at the anport, where everyone had to

  identify himself by showing his passport?

  He wondered whether it was wise for them to take the first -available

  flight: there would be a series of flights, according to Goelz. Maybe they

  should wait, and see what happened to the first batch of evacuees, whether

  there was any kind of search for EDS personnel. At least then they would

  know in advance what the procedures were.

  But so would the Iranians. The advantage of taking the first flight was

  that everything would probably be confused, and the confusion might help

  Howell and the Clean Team slip out unnoticed.

  In the end he decided the first flight was best, but he remained uneasy.

  Bob Young felt the same way. Although Young no longer worked for EDS in

  Iran---he was based in Kuwait-he had been here when the Ministry contract

  was first negotiated, he had met Dadgar face-to-face, and his name might be

  on some list in Dadgar's files.

  Joe Poch6 also favored the first flight, although he did not say

  381

  382 Ken Folku

  much about it--he did not say much at all: Howell found him uncommunicative.

  Rich and Cathy Gallagher were not sum they wanted to leave Iran. They told

  Poch6 quite firmly that, regardless of what Colonel Simons had said, Pochf

  was not "in charge" of them, and they had the right to make their own

  decision. Poch6 agreed, but pointed out that if they decided to take their

  chances here with the Iranians, they should not rely on Perot sending

  another rescue team in for them if they got thrown in jail. In the end the

  Gallaghers also decided to go on the first flight.

  That aftemoon they all went through their documents and destroyed

  everything that referred to Paul and Bill.

  PocM gave each of them two thousand dollars, put five hundred dollars in

  his own pocket, and hid the rest of the money in his shoes, ten thousand

  dollars in each. He was wearing shoes borrowed from Gayden, a size too

  large, to accommodate the money. He also had in his pocket a million rials,

  which he planned to give to Lou Goelz for Abolhasan, who would use the

  money to pay the remaining lx~aman EDS employees their last wages.

  A few minutes before five, they were saying goodbye to Goelz's houseman

  when the phone rang.

  Poch6 took the call. It was Tom Walter. He said: "We have the people. Do

  you understand? We have the people.

  "I understand," Pochi said.

  They all got into the car, Cathy carrying her poodle, Buffy. Pochd drove.

  He did not tell the others about his cryptic message from Tom Walter.

  They parked in a side street near the Embassy, and left the car: it would

  stay them until somebody decided to steal it. -

  There was no relief of tension for Howell as he walked into the Embassy

  compound. There were at least a thousand Americans milling about, but there

  were also scores of armed revolutionary guards. The Embassy was supposed to

  be American soil, inviolate; but clearly the Iranian revolutionaries did

  not take any notice of such diplomatic niceties.

  The Clem Tearn was herded into a queue.

  Tliey spent most of the night waiting in line.

  They queued to fill in forms, they queued to hand in their passports, and

  they queued for baggage checks. All the bags were put in a huge hall, then

  the evacuees had to find their own bags and put the claim checks on. Then

  they queued to open

  ON WINGS OF EAGLES 383

  their bags so the revolutionaries could search them: every single piece was

  opened.

  Howell learned that there would be two planes, both Pan Am 747s. One would
/>
  go to Frankfurt, the other to Athens. The evacuees were organized by

  company, but the EDS people were included with Embassy personnel who were

  leaving. They would be on the Frankfurt flight.

  At seven o'clock on Saturday morning they were boarded on buses to go to

  the airport.

  It was a hell of a ride.

  Two or three armed revolutionaries got on each bus. As they drove out of

  the Embassy gates, they saw a crowd of reporters and television crews: the

  hugans had decided that the flight of the humiliated Americans would be a

  world television event.

  The bus bumped along the road to the airport. Close to Pochd was a guard

  about fifteen years old. He stood in the aisle, swaying with the motion of

  the bus, his finger on the trigger of his rifle. Pochd noticed that the

  safety catch was off.

  If he stumbled ...

  The streets were full of people and traffic. Everyone seemed to kriow that

  these buses contained Americans, and their hafted was palpable. They yelled

  and shook their fists. A truck pulled alongside, and the driver leaned out

  of his window and spat on the bus.

  The convoy was stopped several times. Different areas of the city seemed to

  be under the control of different revolutionary groups, and each group had

  to demonstrate its authority by stopping the buses and then giving them

  permission to proceed.

  It took two hours to drive the six miles to the airport.

  Ile scene there was chaotic. There were more television cameras and

  reporters, plus hundreds of armed men running around, some wearing scraps

  of uniform, some directing traffic, all of them in charge, all having a

  different opinion on where the buses should go.

  The Americans finally got inside the terminal at nine-thirty.

  Embassy personnel started distributing the passports they had collected

  during the night. Five were missing: those of Howell, Poch6, Young, and the

  Gallaghers.

  After Paul and Bill had given their passports to the Embassy for

  safekeeping back in November, the Embassy had refused to return them

  without informing the police. Would they pull the same trick now?

  384 Ken Folleu

  Suddenly Pochd came pushing through the crowd with five passports in his

  hand. "I found them on a shelf behind a counter," he said. "I guess they

 

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